


Sunrise

by Lex_of_Gotham



Series: JayDick Flashfic Art Fills [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Art, Brief Mentions of the rest of the Batfam, Fanart, Gladiator AU, Guilt, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Mentions of Violence, jaydick_flashfic: atonement, mentions of attempted sexual assault, mild nudity, second chapter has a story summary which has
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 09:12:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17957744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lex_of_Gotham/pseuds/Lex_of_Gotham
Summary: My fanart fill for the JayDick Flashfic prompt Atonement.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a sort of story summary that goes with this piece, I'll stick it in chapter 2 for anyone interested :)


	2. Chapter 2

The idea being that Jason is a former slave who earned his way back to freedom as a gladiator, and who has been living his new life as a free man in Rome, trying to forget about the life and makeshift family he’d had before he’d become a slave. They probably thought he was dead, it had been years since his capture, so why should he bother them with his presence now?

But it turns out, since his disappearance, his family, now with new members, had continued searching for him. Slowly, with every fruitless search further dampening any hope of finding Jason, and with everyone now very far from home, Bruce called off the search and called his family together to mourn. The only one who refused to return was Dick, who was still plagued with guilt over Jason’s capture, having been away at the time, chasing glory and ignoring his duty to look after his loved ones. He couldn’t give up the search until he was certain Jason truly was dead. 

Unfortunately, along the way Dick ends up being captured and forced into slavery himself. He proves to be a shockingly capable combatant in the gladiatorial arena and makes a bit of a name for himself due to his unusual practice of leaving most of his opponents alive unless he was forced to kill them. Jason hears the rumours about a new gladiator whose description is eerily familiar, but he tells himself it’s nothing, and he doesn’t like watching the fights. It brings up too many bad memories of when he was the one bleeding in the sand. 

Until one of the Roman slave traders, a man by the name of Slade, decides that he wants this new gladiator, not just for his skill as a warrior, but his potential as a bedwarmer. This leads Dick to fight back, refusing to be used like that, and in the struggle Slade is accidentally killed. Dick is immediately sentenced to death and Jason, hearing word of this and  _needing_  to know if it really was him, finally goes and finds Dick bound and awaiting his execution at dawn. 

Jason is left torn, knowing that if he helps Dick escape he will lose the place he’d made for himself, all the blood, sweat, and tears would be thrown away to run off with a man he’d known in another life. Dick tells Jason about their family, how happy they would all be, to know that Jason was alive and no longer enslaved. But he seems resigned to his fate as the sun starts to creep over the horizon, not wanting Jason to take the risk of saving him. 

_“Maybe this is my atonement.” he said with a humorless chuckle.  
_

_“What the hell are you talking about?” Jason looked so lost and conflicted, scared to give up what he had fought so hard for. But he couldn’t possibly stand aside and watch them kill Dick, could he?  
_

_Dick shrugged as best he could with his arms bound over his head. “The slavery, the fighting, the execution. Maybe this is what I deserve, after I let them take you. And after all the people I’ve killed…”_

_Jason shook his head. “No. Dick, no. You weren’t even there!”_

_“Exactly.”  
_

_There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on Dick’s tired face, he hardly looked like the young man Jason remembered._

_“You and I, we’ll find atonement some other way. Together.” he said, finally kneeling to cut the ropes._


End file.
